Carol of the Bells
by swaggyzebraTW
Summary: Shot eight out of my predicted series of twelve. Jace takes Clary out on a romantic Christmas Eve date on the water. Clary reflects on the time she has spent with him over the past few months, and explains how they have the entire Institute to themselves this holiday season. Clace, Malec, Simabelle, Robert/Maryse. Fluffy, I suck at summaries.


**AN: Sorry to any followers, I'm late with this one. Hopefully I'll pound through a bunch this weekend. **

**Disclaimer: I don't not own **_**The Mortal Instruments,**_** all rights go to Cassandra Clare and her people. **

My eyes flitted around the oceanic bay scene ahead of me, blinking away the slight irritation the wind brought upon my eyes. An odd sense of Déja Vu overcame my system, bringing back memories of the last time I had been on this body of water. Not too long ago, I had been in this very position with none other than Jace Wayland and his friends, only the reasoning behind that escapade had been much different then it was now. The last trip had been much more gloomy and depressing in everyone's opinion.

We had been hunting down my demonic brother, Jonathan Morgenstern, along with my father, the shadow-world wanted villain named Valentine. At the time, me, Alec and his boyfriend Magnus, along with Jace, had been on a make-shift magical boat that we had planned upon using to take down Valentine's huge ass boat. To say we failed miserably would be a gross understatement. It had been a miracle we hadn't all perished on that night.

But, the tides had turned since then, and I was now on one of those small little rafts commonly found in the rivers and streams of Italy. You know, the ones with a man standing and paddling, while a couple has a romantic date? Yeah, it was one of those boats. And I was one of those couples, on a romantic date with my boyfriend as of late, Jace Wayland/Lightwood/Morgentern/Herondale/Whatever The Hell You Want To Call Him.

It was Christmas Eve, and for the first night in a long while, all of the shadow-hunters at the New York Institute had the night off. There would be no demon hunting to be preformed by any of us on this night, and all of the couples had taken full advantage of that.

Magnus and Alec had traveled via portal to Dublin, much to Maryse's displeasure. Ever since the over-usage of our own home portal, along with the transportation of my father and his army of demons through it, Robert and Maryse had pretty much placed a full-out ban on all things involving the mystical doors through the realms. It was a miracle Mags managed to make one and drag Alec out of it before they noticed. Everyone knew they would have hell to pay when they returned, but hopefully their trip would be worth it, for their own sake.

Simon and Isabelle had escaped to Idris, fleeing the city by car at first to please Maryse. Given, it would take them a few months to actually reach Idris that way, so I had the nagging feeling they had arranged a meet with Magnus before he left, and had probably also escaped via portal. How Izzy managed to sneak Simon, a mundane/vampire, into the highly guarded fortress of Idris, I hadn't the slightest clue. I also wished them the best of luck.

Being the hypocrite that she is, Maryse had escaped beside her husband to some undisclosed location for the holidays. They had traveled by portal as well, hence my calling her a hypocrite, and promised only that they would be reachable via their cell-phones or a special communication rune I had made. He bags had been huge, suggesting that she wasn't intending to be back until New Years. I couldn't say that I minded all that much. It meant that Jace and I had the Institute all to ourselves, to do whatever we pleased. That sounded good enough to me.

To celebrate our alone time and our brief period of vacationing and relaxation, Jace had promised to take me on a peaceful boat ride through New York, at night, while all of the cities lights were lit and glowing with their full glory. He had rented out a special boat for the occasion, fit with its own little paddling man, who was fairly attractive for a mundie, I had to admit. Not that I would ever tell Jace that, because it was pointless and would only upset him.

"It's beautiful, Jace." I stated, referring to the scene around us. "Thanks for doing this."

He moved his arm tighter around my waist, snuggling me deeper into his side. "No problem. We deserved a break, and I didn't want your view of this harbor to be tainted by our little incident a while ago with you father and brother."

Apparently the connection hadn't gone over his head, either. "Yeah, this place is certainly more beautiful then I remembered it being."

He pointed around us. "The lights help, don't they?"

I smiled. They most certainly did, and they added a newfound beauty to the whole place. The colors bounced wonderfully off the water, making disoriented shaped of wonder. Towering buildings could be spotted in the distance, all coated in their own ensemble of holiday decor.

To say that the scene around us was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen, would be an understatement. On a normal day, you would barely be able to see anything in this level of darkness. But, with all of the holiday festivities, I could see for miles.

Snow had begun to fall, and it landed in crispy flakes on the boat and in the water. I caught a single bit of the white in my hand, and studied it contently as it melted into my palm. Jace chuckled from his spot beside me.

"Your mother really raised you in the mundane life, didn't she?"

Well, there was no denying that. She had wanted to protect me from all things evil, like any normal mother, but little did she realize, I was made for this life. There was no hiding me from it. Inevitably, I found Jace that night, and was welcomed to the world of demons and shadows. Her persistent shielding had proven little good, in fact, I would have been better off with more training. But, there is nothing I can do about her choices now, as they have already been made.

I didn't answer Jace; instead I marveled in the beauty he had brought me into. "My view of this place has completely changed. I can't believe how the lights reflect of this water!"

"If you squint a little, you can also see the tree in the main square." He stated, pointing in the distance.

I followed the line of his finger, following his directions. Squinting slightly, I was surprised to see the top half of the ginormous and decorated Christmas tree in the main square. The star at the top of the large mass gleamed brightly through the night, like a lighthouse beacon drawing ships to harbor. I felt the sensation myself.

I shivered slightly at the cold wind, and Jace noticed. "You cold?"

I nodded, pulling my coat sleeve up a little, exposing my wrist. I took Jace's stele from his pocket, and used it to trace a rune of warmth on my chilled skin. The effect it had was immediate, and I felt much better afterward. "Want me to draw you one, too?" I asked, holding the stele in offering.

"Sure." He said, handing me his wrist.

I traced the design along his forearm before handing it back to him. We sat in silence, only the sounds of water pressing against the sides of the boat were audible, until our private boatman began to hum to himself. His Christmas tunes sounded to our side of the boat, making me smile.

I was humming along myself when sparks erupted in the skies. Looking up, I spotted fireworks breaking into the night. Christmas colors filled the darkened expanse, leaving small trails of color along my eyelids even when they closed.

Trumpets sounded in the distance, making a lovely tune which I could soon identify as the classic, "Carol of the Bells."

"Thanks for this, Jace." I said in awe.

He smiled. "I actually never knew that they were going to do fireworks. But I guess this works in our favor, right?"

I nodded. "It's perfect. I doubt any of the others are having as great a time as us."

"Probably not, especially not Maryse and Robert. They're both so uptight that I doubt they ever truly let loose and have any real fun."

"Like that time you had some fairy stuff and ended up running naked down main street with nothing but some antlers?" I asked, giggling lightly.

Jace only rolled his eyes. "I never said that happened to me. I just gave an example of what could have happened."

"You never denied it." I pointed out.

"Whatever." He said, cupping my face with his warm fingers as he brought his lips to mine in a sweet kiss.

It wasn't deep, and our tongues barely had the time to tango, but it was nice enough. It said what our words didn't need to, and spread some points across. A camera had clicked right before we pulled away, and we saw Pierre, our boatman, holding a camera in his hands.

A photograph slid out from the lower slot on the camera. He handed it to us kindly.

Cliché as it was, it was the perfect picture. Jace and I were huddled together, lips locked, hands clasped between us; all while a single firework exploded behind us. The grainy image just made it more intriguing, and practically begged that I place it in a frame on my wall or something.

"Thank you, Pierre. This is a lovely picture." I said, smiling warmly.

He nodded enthusiastically, returning to his paddling. "Una bella immagine di una bella coppia in una notte ancora più bella. Una cattura senza tempo di questo momento, che tu sia desiderare di rivedere, mi sa." He said, in his near flawless Italian.

Jace translated for the boy. "A beautiful picture for a beautiful couple on an even more beautiful night. A timeless capture of this moment, which you shall both wish to revisit, I reckon."

"That was very kind thing for him to say."

"Most Italian-Americans do such things. Especially when they're hired for romantic dates."

That elicited yet another eye roll. "Thank you, Captain Sacrasm." I said.

"You know you wouldn't have me any other way." He said, moving closer once more.

"I know." I whispered, bringing my lips to his once more on this chilly Christmas Eve; happy that I was spending it with Jace.

**AN: Okay, I know this was absolute CRAP. I apologize. I wrote this up in thirty minutes because I felt the need to give you guys something. Hopefully, this was better than nothing? Anyway, please review, and please, feel free to GIVE ME IDEAS. I have four more shots left, and my well of ideas ran out a LONG time ago. So please, review me with something. It would make it more probable that I complete this twelve series goal before Christmas. Thanks for reading!**


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